Religion 132:  God and Goddess in Hinduism Winter 2002 Prof. Timothy Lubin Office: 23 Newcomb Hall Phone: 463-8146; E-mail: lubint@wlu.edu Also see: The W&L South Asia Page

Course Description

This course explores the many ways in which Hindus visualize and talk about the divine, and its manifestations in the world, using mythic stories, the images used in worship, explanations of the nature of the soul and the body in relation to the divine, and the belief in living, human embodiments of God in Hindu holy men and women.  Topics addressed include: the religious meanings of masculine and feminine in the divine and human contexts; the idea of local, family, and "chosen" divinities; and forms of Hindu devotion for women and men.

Course Objectives

The aim of the course is to help students understand Hindu ways of conceiving of divinity and its presence and activity in the world and in the life of the worshiper.  Students will learn how to interpret mythological stories and other forms of religious expression, as well as artistic representations of deities, and their use in worship.

Requirements

Required work for the course:
(i) three one-hour tests (20% each);
(ii) two 1000-word essays: the first interpreting a mythic story; the second discussing a topic related to Hindu temples and image-worship (20% each) [Please click here for advice on paper writing.];
(iii) a visit to the Shantiniketan Hindu Temple in Roanoke (or another Hindu temple).
Poor attendance may lower the final grade; regular contributions to class discussion can raise it.

Books for Purchase

T. Richard Blurton, Hindu Art
John Stratton Hawley and Donna Marie Wulff, eds., Devi: Goddesses of India (DEVI)
Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty, trans., Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit (HM)
Joanne P. Waghorne and Norman Cutler, eds., Gods of Flesh / Gods of Stone: The Embodiment of Divinity in India
Course Reader (available by Week 4 of the term)

Schedule of Topics and Readings

The Hindu Gods at Work and Play: The Mythological Imagination

Week 1: One God or Many?

1/7     In class: RV 1.32, 5.86, 10.121; BAU 3.9.
1/9     Blurton, Introduction and Ch. 1
1/11   CR, sels. 1 and 2 (handed out).

Week 2: Creation and Divine Precedent

1/14   HM, Introduction and Ch. 1.
1/16   HM, Ch. 2 (to p. 74).
1/18   HM, Ch. 2 (finish).

Week 3: Agni and Shiva/Rudra

1/21   HM, Ch. 3; Blurton, Ch. 3
1/23   HM, Ch. 4 (to p. 154).
1/25   HM, Ch. 4 (finish).

Week 4: Vishnu and his Avatars

1/28   Blurton, Ch. 4; The Ramayana (retold by L. Tominberg)
     Please peruse the images at the following sites:
 Bengali scrolls of the Ramayana (from the H. Daniel Smith Collection)
 The Ramakian in Thai Art (John Hoskin)
 Amar Chitra Katha's Comic-Book Ramayana

Note: Although we will not have time to cover it fully in this course, the story of India's longer and much more complicated epic is available on-line in a retelling by C. Rajagopalachari as well as in several good book-length retellings (by Buck, Narayanan, etc.).

1/30   HM, Ch. 5.                         Video: “The Mahabharata” (excerpts)
2/1     TEST 1     See Study Guide 1

Week 5: Goddesses and “The Goddess” (Devi)

2/4     Blurton, Ch. 5; HM, Ch. 6.                     see >>>  Devi: The Great Goddess (Smithsonian website)
2/6     DEVI, pp. 31-44, 137-151. Video: “Jai Santoshi Ma”
2/8     DEVI, pp. 109-131.

Week 6: The Gods versus the Demons

2/11   HM, Ch. 7.                        FIRST ESSAY DUE IN CLASS    >>> TOPIC <<<
2/13   CR, sel. 3 (Stanley).
2/15   CR, sel. 4 (Obeyesekere)

2/18-22: Washington Holiday (No Classes)

Experiencing the Hindu Deity

Week 7: Things

2/25   GoF/GoS, Introduction and Chs. 1-2.
2/27   GoF/GoS, Ch. 3.                 Slides of Hindu images
3/1     GoF/GoS, Ch. 4.

Week 8: Places — The Temple

3/4     Blurton, Chs. 2 and 6.          Video: “Given to Dance”
3/6     DEVI, pp. 87-105.
3/8     TEST 2            See Study Guide 2

Week 9: Places — Pilgrimage and Festival

3/11    CR, sel. 5 (Hawley, “Pilgrimage to Brindavan”).
3/13    DEVI, pp. 49-75.
3/15    CR, sel. 6 (Courtright).       Video: “Elephant God”

Week 10: Persons — Possession

3/18    GoF/GoS, Chs. 5-6.           Video: “Sons of Shiva: The Gajan Festival”
3/20    DEVI, pp. 173-219.
3/22    DEVI, pp. 227-249.

Week 11: Persons — Living Avatars

3/25    CR, sel. 7 (McDaniel).         Video: “The Living God”
3/27    GoF/GoS, Ch. 7.
3/29    GoF/GoS, Ch. 8.                SECOND ESSAY DUE IN CLASS  >>> TOPIC <<<

Week 12: Modern Appropriations of the Goddess

4/1     DEVI, pp. 250-280
4/3     DEVI, pp. 281-305
4/5     TEST 3            See Study Guide 3

Rel. 132 Course Reader

1. Kees W. Bolle, “Myth: An Overview,” in The Encyclopedia of Religion, ed. by Mircea Eliade, vol. 8 (New York: Macmillan, 1987), pp. 261-273.

2. Edmund Leach, “Lévi-Strauss in the Garden of Eden: An Examination of Some recent Developments in the Analysis of Myth,” Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, ser. II, vol. 23 (1961), 386-396, reprinted in Reader in Comparative Religion: An Anthropological Approach, 2nd ed., ed. by William A. Lessa and Evon Z. Vogt (New York: Harper & Row, 1965) , pp. 574-581.

3. John M. Stanley, “The Capitulation of Mani: A Conversion Myth in the Cult of Khandoba,” ch. 10 in Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, ed. by Alf Hiltebeitel (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989), pp. 271-298.

4. Gananath Obeyesekere, “Myth and Political Legitimation at the Sacred Centre in Kataragama, Sri Lanka, in The Sacred Centre as the Focus of Political Interest, ed. by Hans Bakker (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1992), pp. 219-233.

5. J. S. Hawley, “Pilgrimage to Brindavan,” in At Play with Krishna (Princeton: P.U.P., 1981), pp. 3-51.

6. Paul B. Courtright, “The Ganesh Festival in Maharashtra: Some Observations,” ch. 7 in The Experience of Hinduism, ed. by Eleanor Zelliot and M. Berntsen (Albany: SUNY, 1988), pp. 76-94.

7. June McDaniel, “The Overflowing of Bhagavan,” ch. 2 in The Madness of the Saints: Ecstatic Religion in Bengal (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989), pp. 29-75.